Heading West next week, and rounding out my meal selections...which Mountain House meals are the best for taste, nutrition, and overall goodness? if not Mountain House are the there any other dehydrated meals that are delicious?

If you get hungry enough, everything is good. Better to make your own meals from dehydrated foods, instant rice, etc. Most of the packaged meals are not very good, though I have a few dedicated camper friends that say the mountain house lasagna is edible. I would try a few before you leave to be sure. If you make your own meal packages, you can put in any spices, etc. you like. It takes a little time and practice to figure out good meals, but once you get started you will come up with good stuff. Good hunting.

Most of the packaged, just add water Bear Creek soups are good, plus you can add dehydrated veggies to them for more nutrition and variety.

Drop a Knorrs vegetable bouillon into instant rice or cous cous, add some leafy green veggies or dehydrated spinach or kale, or any good veggie, top with packaged salmon or tuna (about $1 per pack for meal size). Probably other packaged meats available. Just need a pot for the rice or noodles.

Take seasonings you like.

The MH meals are spendy, about $8-10, depending where you go. Cotsco usually sells a box set of thirteen meals for $60.

I don't mind the MH meals, I think they are decent for taste and nutrition. It's better than starving and they are relatively light. I try to take some tortillas to eat with them.

Ramen is cheap, easy to make and fairly light. It comes up short on nutritional value.

Bear creek soups are tasty and aren't too bad nutritionally, but some can be a mess to clean up.

Lipton makes several soup flavor that just require hot water. Not bad at all.

After a long day slogging around the mountains the last thing I really I want to do is cook my meal. I want to boil water so I can eat. I try to stay simple and simple keeps my pack light.

I now only buy them. Its real hard to beat the Breakfast Skillet wrapped in a tortilla, the shells don't need to be kept cool. I have eaten nearly all the MH variety, I haven't found one I didn't like and cant really suggest any specifics. If you read the bag you will notice they give you a lot more of everything you need, more so than simple rice and bullion will. I have experimented a lot with them and found that reducing the water added by about 2-3 oz makes them perfectly. Not too runny and not to thick.

Their deserts are amazing to. Raspberry Crumble will curl your toes!

Way to expensive, there are cheaper alternatives and far better tasting.

Can't beat the Breakfast Skillet with or with out the bean gasket (tortilla). My favorites are Lasagna, Spaghetti, and Chilli Mac. I go on a backpacking trip every summer with a small group and live on MH for 6-7 days at a time - they're great. But I will say that at the end of each trip I'm ready for a real meal.

Can't beat the Breakfast Skillet with or with out the bean gasket (tortilla). My favorites are Lasagna, Spaghetti, and Chilli Mac. I go on a backpacking trip every summer with a small group and live on MH for 6-7 days at a time - they're great. But I will say that at the end of each trip I'm ready for a real meal.

They are pretty overpriced and about all you are paying for is the packaging.

Go to a good grocery store and walk through the section that has all the freeze dried and dried foods. Nearly everything that Mountain Hose sells comes from there, and about the only thing you can't get are the deserts.

Instant oatmeal- light, quick, and tasty

Try hawk vittles, the meals are protein packed and delicious.

http://hawkvittles.com/

It should be known that MH meals are nearly all 2 - 2.5 servings for 5-7 bucks. I'm not sure that qualifies as a rip off? I'll gladly pay $2-$3 a meal for quality food designed for high activity folks.

Im a cheap skate by nature and I've tried the oatmeal, the rice and bullion, the instant soup and so on. Sure its cheap, and that's good because you will need to eat at least twice as much to get full and get the calories you need. I found myself eating CLIF bars in between cheap meals because there simply isn't enough "go" in them. Not for me anyway.

PD is spot on with his assesment. The MH meals are very good with large portions , good nutrition, and very tasty. Just cut down on the water a little.

I only eat MH meals anymore. Backpackers Pantry are sometimes awful and never as convenient.

At least one MH meal per day for me, and that's a steal considering how good they are. If I splurge, I'll have a MH breakfast "skillet" in the a.m., and a MH dinner meal before bedtime.

My favorites are the breakfast skillet, the biscuits and gravy, the chicken and rice (after having this for the first time on a backpacking trip, my daughter asked my wife if we could have those at home! LOL).

At the end of a long day, the price is an afterthought. Believe me.

Fantastic replies...I appreciate it all. Sounds like Tortillas need to be included..I'm just looking at lite weight pack in meals that I can whip up quick, when I get back down to spike camp in the dark. Looking forward to trying the above mentioned.

I use tortillas for almost all of them. They offer little flavor, but they are a great vehicle to get the food in your mouth :)

Make your own! WAY too much sodium in MH and similar meals! Also, drink plenty of water if living on these meals!

Like Rocket Dog, I'm also a big fan of Bear Creek.

Mountain House is good, very close to the LRRP rations we had in Viet Nam. I have tried other brands but been disappointed. Some are too salty or artificial tasting. I also like Instant oatmeal, lipton soup, hot chocolate andTop Ramin or Cup of Noodles with some meat added (tuna, chicken, jerky etc). All of the above only require boiled water making preparation and cleanup simple.

Take extra BP meds for the salt wash down with plenty of water.

Older I get the lighter my pack needs to be. I really like the MH beef stew and beef stroganoff . Yes kinda pricey and to much salt but I don't eat them very often. Don't have to wash a pot by adding boiling water to the bag. Rinse out the supper bag and use it for instant oatmeal the next morning.

Good info

I think the sodium content may be somewhat intentional. These meals are made for high energy consumption assuming that it is accompanied by sweating.

Did you ever consider preparing food you like and vacuum packing it? I've done that for years and really like the flexibility It provides.

I carried in MRE's well worth the little bit extra weight. Tastes more like real food and satisfied me a lot longer than dried noodles. The deserts that came with my meals were tasty and a treat after a long day on the trail.

I have been on over 40 Canadian canoe trips, Mountain House is only i can tolerate. If you have to either float and/or carry your food weight is critical. The alfredo and the chilly mac are my favorites, although possible the least nutritious. Gorp and jerky, go light on the spice and heavy on the nuts. Now I know what some are thinking, who wants to drag a heavy bag of nuts around, but they do keep the motor running.

My favorite is Mountain House but I have some Heathers Choice that I plan to taste test. Her Packaroons are awesome. Heathers Choice is a healthier alterative. I hear that Hawk Vittles are good as well and will try them eventually. I think all of the MH flavors are good.

You need complex carbs for body fuel, and protein to keep the muscles and brain going. You can actually get anything you need in a grocery aisle and dry pack it yourself. But that's likely not convenient enough for some folk. Ziploc bags work great for that. There's all kinds of dried foods available nowadays, and also convenient packages of dried meats for quick protein. I like almonds as well. The foil packs of tuna, salmon, etc., will last a long time and are compact and lightweight.

Put a lot of miles in the trinity mountains. Almost every year for a week or so. Mountain house was an easy and quick way to get food for the trip. If you don't have a lot of time to shop. I liked the teriyaki rice with chicken. Light weight and easy to pack. They make more compressed packages so they don't take much room. My hunting trips are usually pretty spontaneous and I don't have a lot of time to prep so they work for me.

I've eaten about 100 mountain house meals over the recent years and don't notice a big difference. I always just look at the pack and weigh out the total calories vs taste. What it comes down to is calories as a percentage of weight on your back. I never haul deserts or breakfast as it takes up space and I generally don't take time to eat them. Another option that I grew to really like was a packet of instant potatoes and a bag of smoked salmon in oil. Mix those together after a long day of only eating granola bars and trail mix and it tastes great.

The best MH I have had was the scrambled eggs with bacon. Lasagna, chillimac, chicken with rice are usual go to choices.

"Fantastic replies...I appreciate it all. Sounds like Tortillas need to be included..I'm just looking at lite weight pack in meals that I can whip up quick, when I get back down to spike camp in the dark. Looking forward to trying the above mentioned."

Yes, this is where MH freeze-dried meals excel - at the end of a long hard day when all you have the energy for is boiling water and you want a fast but good meal.

Another gem I picked up while elk hunting with my buddy last year was deviled ham in a sandwich wrap for lunch. Very filling and tasty on the trail, and doesn't take up a lot of space or weight. I think we had the deviled ham wraps, some dried fruit, and a snickers bar for lunch and it was great.

"Rinse out the supper bag and use it for instant oatmeal the next morning..."

Brilliant!

Tortillas and a little hot sauce bottle (they are like 1" long) are really good but Tortillas weight quite a bit per ounce.

As others have said, you can find things that taste better but when weight is a factor you can't beat Mountain House. In 30 years of hunting back country Alaska we tried everything but nothing beat it. Throw a handful of instant rice or couscous in it and it will fill you right up.

Another good lunch sandwich is plain old cheese and butter. Protein, and calcium, and good wheat bread for good carbs. You can mash them flat if you must and they still will be fine at lunchtime.

My son and his hunting/fishing buds eat mountain house meals on the trail and in camp. Unfortunately I've never asked which ones. I just don't eat freeze dry but I never heard a complaint from them.

Off topic. As for stoves, these guys ALL use a 'Jetboil' butane stove. From set up the stove to a pint of water at rolling boil in maybe three minutes, and that is NS. I don't care what they are making it is done WAAAY faster than my old MSR Whisperlite. About the time I get ready to drop coffee in the pot these guys are drinking their coffee and have the second pot of water heated. These guys are eye opening fast at everything, and I ain't gettin any younger either. "Dad, you about ready?" lol

Another vote for Hawk's Vittles.

Much better than MH to me.

Made of stuff that really "sticks to your ribs".

I'm starting to think old Indians didn't wander off from camp at the end of their days. They woke up in the morning and camp had done left already. lol

"Way to expensive, there are cheaper alternatives and far better tasting."

Such as???

I've actually never tried Mountain House, I've tried Wise Foods cheesy hamburger mac. It was OK but not fabulous. My opinion of MH is they are worth the price. However I am a big advocate of O&E foods. Foods you can open and eat. By weight peanut butter is probably one of the best fuels for keeping going. You can pack a jar or a bunch of the Jif to go packets. I add peanut butter to instant oatmeal to fortify it. I also like Clif bars, beef jerky and hunter's sausages, home made dehydrated fruits, Snickers bars. Next time you're at the store compare the nutritional labels of a Snickers and a Power Bar. It will surprise you. I also make my own GORP, which is more than just raisins and peanuts. One last thing I'll recommend as far as food that need cooking. Look in the Ethnic foods aisle or Asian foods aisle of your grocery store. Taste Of Thailand, Annie Chung and others make much better noodle dishes than Ramin noodles with sauce and vegetables. Add a pouch out chicken or cubed up fried Spam or pouches of salmon or tuna to boost the protein level.

beef stroganoff is my favorite. I can't do the chicken terriaki for some reason, has made me sick every time I've tried it and I've got an iron gut most times.

Chili Mac Chicken Teriyaki Beef Stroganoff Lasagna The ones packaged as 2.5 servings is a pretty good value, although when I'm hungry in the mountains I can easily eat a whole one myself. The best value is to by the MH in bulk in #10 cans and then break it down with a home vacuum sealer. My brother and I just finished getting ours broken down and sealed last weekend - ready to go!! I have found this place to be real reasonable and they often have some super discounted specials on the #10 cans. http://www.ldpcampingfoods.com/index.htm

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